A north-east MSP has hit out at rules which meant he was not able to vote for his former office assistant who is now the new SNP MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
French-born Christian Allard said it was “very strange” that he was Stuart Donaldson’s election agent and spent many hours campaigning with him but could not express his support at the ballot box.
He was not alone in his frustration – an estimated 90,000 people born in other European Union countries who have made Scotland their home were denied the chance to have their say at the general election last week.
They can take part in Holyrood, local authority and European Parliament elections, however.
According to the Electoral Commission, a person must be registered, be at least 18, a British citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote in a general election.
Mr Allard, 51, has lived in Scotland for more than 25 years and has settled in Westhill, Aberdeenshire.
He claimed it cost about £1,000 to become a British citizen and it was time for general election rules to be changed.
Mr Allard said: “I was campaigning for Stuart, I was the agent, but I could not vote so it was really strange,” he added.
“I lot of people have been disenfranchised for this vote at Westminster like 16 and 17-year-olds” he said.
“EU nationals who choose to come and live here are able to vote in the Scottish Parliament elections, become a candidate and become parliamentarians like I am.
“We voted in the independence referendum but five months down the line we are not involved in this democratic process.”
Mr Allard said he imagined many voters across Scotland would be puzzled by the rules.
“A lot of people would have thought I voted in the referendum, I am engaged in the political process and maybe some of them would have gone to the polling station and asked to vote,” he added.
“Their name would have been on the register but there would have been a letter next to it which says ‘cannot vote’.
“I know that if I want to vote in a UK election I have to become British which costs about £1,000 before you pass the test, so it is a bit expensive for one vote.”
A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: “Any change to the law allowing EU nationals to vote in a general election would need to be proposed by the UK Government and approved by the Westminster parliament”